SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Memorials outside the Tree of Life synagogue, Pittsburgh. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Trump's Judaism Order Has Nothing to Do With Fighting Anti-Semitism
The man who called neo-Nazis "very fine people" has no business defining anti-Semitism for the rest of us.
Dec 17, 2019
The Trump administration says it's anti-Semitic to criticize Israel. That's the gist of a recent executive order that would treat campus calls to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians as anti-Semitic discrimination on the basis of "national origin."
Days after the order, the synagogue I most often attend here in Washington, D.C. became another of the hundreds in the U.S. to be vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. Swastikas and the word "Jew" were found gouged into its historic doors.
This graffiti isn't the symbol of the nonviolent boycott movement. It's the symbol of the neo-Nazis Trump called "very fine people."
Every mainstream headline I saw about Trump's recent order seemed to accept that it was designed to combat anti-Semitism. You could almost forget that Trump himself is one of the single biggest dangers facing the Jewish community in this country today.
During his presidency, he's called rooms full of Jewish people "brutal killers" while making excuses for Nazis after Charlottesville. His former chief strategist was the head of an alt-right website.
Trump has backed white supremacist conspiracies that migrant caravans are secretly funded by Jews, said Jews who vote for Democrats show "great disloyalty," and -- at his Hanukkah party, no less -- gave the floor to a pastor who says that Jews are going to hell. Subtle.
And never mind that categorizing Jewishness as a "national origin" hearkens back to anti-Semitic trope that, wherever we go, we're an "alien people."
Under Trump, anti-Semitic hate crimes have skyrocketed to historic levels, and it's affecting us all.
Every time I'm in a large Jewish gathering, I can't help but think of the massacres in Pittsburgh and Poway and Jersey City. I find myself looking around the room, wondering: Will it happen here at high holiday services, or at this showing of Fiddler on the Roof with my friends?
The man whose presidency forces me to ask these questions is clearly not trying to protect me. So why did he pass this executive action?
The meat of this action is aimed at Israeli boycott movements on college campuses across the U.S. It threatens to withhold federal funding from schools where students organize events linked to the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.
As a Jewish activist, let me assure you: Boycotting Israel is not anti-Semitic.
It's been pushed for years by Trump education official Kenneth L. Marcus, who equates boycotting Israel with Holocaust denial. It's the support of far-right figures like Marcus the president is after. As Trump recently told the Israeli American Council, "You have to vote for me. You have no choice."
As a Jewish activist, let me assure you: Boycotting Israel is not anti-Semitic.
Aside from the fact that many of those fighting for their colleges to divest from Israel are Jewish themselves, the BDS movement is one of the only available ways to protest the U.S.-backed brutalization of Palestinians that's continued ceaselessly for decades. This is a human rights issue, no matter your religion.
Shutting down BDS allows Trump to support Israel's far-right government in systematically abusing Palestinians, secure the support of some politically powerful pro-Israel voters, and convince the public it's being done in the name of protecting Jews.
It's not. When Jews and non-Jews alike speak up for human rights and are crushed into silence, no one is safer. When congresspeople who speak up against this are slandered as anti-Semitic, while our clearly anti-Semitic president is not, no one is safer.
As a Jew, I know Trump is not supporting the people who congregate in synagogues to sing, eat, pray, and live. He's emboldening the ones gouging swastikas into the doors.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
The Trump administration says it's anti-Semitic to criticize Israel. That's the gist of a recent executive order that would treat campus calls to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians as anti-Semitic discrimination on the basis of "national origin."
Days after the order, the synagogue I most often attend here in Washington, D.C. became another of the hundreds in the U.S. to be vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. Swastikas and the word "Jew" were found gouged into its historic doors.
This graffiti isn't the symbol of the nonviolent boycott movement. It's the symbol of the neo-Nazis Trump called "very fine people."
Every mainstream headline I saw about Trump's recent order seemed to accept that it was designed to combat anti-Semitism. You could almost forget that Trump himself is one of the single biggest dangers facing the Jewish community in this country today.
During his presidency, he's called rooms full of Jewish people "brutal killers" while making excuses for Nazis after Charlottesville. His former chief strategist was the head of an alt-right website.
Trump has backed white supremacist conspiracies that migrant caravans are secretly funded by Jews, said Jews who vote for Democrats show "great disloyalty," and -- at his Hanukkah party, no less -- gave the floor to a pastor who says that Jews are going to hell. Subtle.
And never mind that categorizing Jewishness as a "national origin" hearkens back to anti-Semitic trope that, wherever we go, we're an "alien people."
Under Trump, anti-Semitic hate crimes have skyrocketed to historic levels, and it's affecting us all.
Every time I'm in a large Jewish gathering, I can't help but think of the massacres in Pittsburgh and Poway and Jersey City. I find myself looking around the room, wondering: Will it happen here at high holiday services, or at this showing of Fiddler on the Roof with my friends?
The man whose presidency forces me to ask these questions is clearly not trying to protect me. So why did he pass this executive action?
The meat of this action is aimed at Israeli boycott movements on college campuses across the U.S. It threatens to withhold federal funding from schools where students organize events linked to the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.
As a Jewish activist, let me assure you: Boycotting Israel is not anti-Semitic.
It's been pushed for years by Trump education official Kenneth L. Marcus, who equates boycotting Israel with Holocaust denial. It's the support of far-right figures like Marcus the president is after. As Trump recently told the Israeli American Council, "You have to vote for me. You have no choice."
As a Jewish activist, let me assure you: Boycotting Israel is not anti-Semitic.
Aside from the fact that many of those fighting for their colleges to divest from Israel are Jewish themselves, the BDS movement is one of the only available ways to protest the U.S.-backed brutalization of Palestinians that's continued ceaselessly for decades. This is a human rights issue, no matter your religion.
Shutting down BDS allows Trump to support Israel's far-right government in systematically abusing Palestinians, secure the support of some politically powerful pro-Israel voters, and convince the public it's being done in the name of protecting Jews.
It's not. When Jews and non-Jews alike speak up for human rights and are crushed into silence, no one is safer. When congresspeople who speak up against this are slandered as anti-Semitic, while our clearly anti-Semitic president is not, no one is safer.
As a Jew, I know Trump is not supporting the people who congregate in synagogues to sing, eat, pray, and live. He's emboldening the ones gouging swastikas into the doors.
The Trump administration says it's anti-Semitic to criticize Israel. That's the gist of a recent executive order that would treat campus calls to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians as anti-Semitic discrimination on the basis of "national origin."
Days after the order, the synagogue I most often attend here in Washington, D.C. became another of the hundreds in the U.S. to be vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. Swastikas and the word "Jew" were found gouged into its historic doors.
This graffiti isn't the symbol of the nonviolent boycott movement. It's the symbol of the neo-Nazis Trump called "very fine people."
Every mainstream headline I saw about Trump's recent order seemed to accept that it was designed to combat anti-Semitism. You could almost forget that Trump himself is one of the single biggest dangers facing the Jewish community in this country today.
During his presidency, he's called rooms full of Jewish people "brutal killers" while making excuses for Nazis after Charlottesville. His former chief strategist was the head of an alt-right website.
Trump has backed white supremacist conspiracies that migrant caravans are secretly funded by Jews, said Jews who vote for Democrats show "great disloyalty," and -- at his Hanukkah party, no less -- gave the floor to a pastor who says that Jews are going to hell. Subtle.
And never mind that categorizing Jewishness as a "national origin" hearkens back to anti-Semitic trope that, wherever we go, we're an "alien people."
Under Trump, anti-Semitic hate crimes have skyrocketed to historic levels, and it's affecting us all.
Every time I'm in a large Jewish gathering, I can't help but think of the massacres in Pittsburgh and Poway and Jersey City. I find myself looking around the room, wondering: Will it happen here at high holiday services, or at this showing of Fiddler on the Roof with my friends?
The man whose presidency forces me to ask these questions is clearly not trying to protect me. So why did he pass this executive action?
The meat of this action is aimed at Israeli boycott movements on college campuses across the U.S. It threatens to withhold federal funding from schools where students organize events linked to the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.
As a Jewish activist, let me assure you: Boycotting Israel is not anti-Semitic.
It's been pushed for years by Trump education official Kenneth L. Marcus, who equates boycotting Israel with Holocaust denial. It's the support of far-right figures like Marcus the president is after. As Trump recently told the Israeli American Council, "You have to vote for me. You have no choice."
As a Jewish activist, let me assure you: Boycotting Israel is not anti-Semitic.
Aside from the fact that many of those fighting for their colleges to divest from Israel are Jewish themselves, the BDS movement is one of the only available ways to protest the U.S.-backed brutalization of Palestinians that's continued ceaselessly for decades. This is a human rights issue, no matter your religion.
Shutting down BDS allows Trump to support Israel's far-right government in systematically abusing Palestinians, secure the support of some politically powerful pro-Israel voters, and convince the public it's being done in the name of protecting Jews.
It's not. When Jews and non-Jews alike speak up for human rights and are crushed into silence, no one is safer. When congresspeople who speak up against this are slandered as anti-Semitic, while our clearly anti-Semitic president is not, no one is safer.
As a Jew, I know Trump is not supporting the people who congregate in synagogues to sing, eat, pray, and live. He's emboldening the ones gouging swastikas into the doors.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.